’Non Scholae sed Vitae Discimus’. Life‐span perspectives on school learning

After a brief survey of the literature on life‐span effects of school education, a conceptual model is presented of the interplay between learning and selection effects within and outside formal education and how this interplay affects competencies among adults. This model serves as point of departure for a follow‐up study at the age of 32 of a representative sample of the birth cohort of 1948 which was first studied at the age of 13. In this article, path analyses are presented of the regression of educational level on background characteristics of the sample and of the regression of self‐rated competencies on background and education.